Inland Pacific Consulting
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Monthly Archives: February 2009
SQL2008 Copy Database Wizard Fails On Step Five
We have been testing SQL Server 2008 for several weeks with no problems until we tried to copy databases from our SQL2000 and SQL2005 servers and found that the Copy Database Wizard would fail on step five and not copy databases from either SQL2000 or SQL2005. After doing a Google search, I found several references to others having a similar problem, with the solution being to make sure that the accounts running each instance of SQL were the same, or other permissions related issues.
Changing users and adjusting permissions from the defaults did not solve the problem, not could I find anything on the Microsoft Support site searching for this issue regarding SQL2008, though there were similar issues that were addressed for SQL2005.
Domain Name Registration Fraud
A client of mine sent me a copy of a letter she received and asked if she needed to pay this ‘invoice’. As we are the domain registrar for my client’s domain name, I knew immediately it was some sort of scam. Though determining exactly what they were trying to do, besides fraudulently extract money, is still not clear in my mind and I have read the letter over several times.
You may recall when the telephone companies deregulated, the flurry of calls you received to ‘upgrade’ your service; when in reality, those calls were from other companies trying to switch your service from your chosen carrier to their service. This practice was labeled ‘slamming’. It didn’t take long for this practice to find its way into the domain name market. If you had a domain name registered, you might have noticed a flurry of calls or letters or even faxes explaining that your domain name was about to expire, or that another variant of your domain needed to be registered to protect your company name. (for example, if you owned the name ‘yourcompany.com’ the letter might say you had to order ‘yourcompany.net’). These letters were from companies that were trying to switch your domain name registration from your chosen provider over to their company, usually at a much higher price.
SQL Server Updates
We will be applying Service Pack updates on both SQL 2000 and SQL 2005 servers this evening (February 25, 2009). There will be several server reboots required which will effect both the SQL servers and any web sites that are using one of these servers for back-end data storage. SQL 2008 servers and sites using SQL 2008 will not be effected by this update.
Netbooks becoming popular as IT budgets are cut
With the current state of the economy, businesses are cutting their IT budgets and looking for cost saving ways to perform necessary day to day tasks. With prices on the new netbooks under the $400.00 mark, they can be just right when replacing or adding notebook computers for company employees.
Netbooks are a class of laptop computers that are small, light, and inexpensive, with reduced specifications and processing power relative to larger laptops. Netbooks are well-suited for accessing web-based applications, cloud computing, and rich Internet applications, and are less appropriate for running complex or resource-intensive applications directly from the netbook itself.
While the devices’ screen sizes range in from below 5 inches to over 12 and weigh between 2 and 3 pounds, at the end of 2008 the typical netbook featured a 3-lb weight, a 9-inch screen, wireless Internet connectivity, Linux or Windows XP, an Intel chip, and a cost of less than US$400.
Netbooks represent a “greener” alternative to larger laptops “thanks to lower power demands, fewer toxic components, and a resource-efficient approach to computing.”
Tax Refund via Email–NOT!
Don’t get taken by this one. This email recently appeared in my inbox looking rather official and appearing to be from the Internal Revenue Service. DO NOT CLICK ON ANY LINKS IN THIS EMAIL. It is a Phishing scam. The IRS does not contact you for information via email.
As a general rule, it is not a good idea to click on any links or respond to email you receive unless it is from someone you know. Even if an email looks like it is from someone you know, it is possible to forge the sender’s email address; so regardless of who an email appears to be sent from, if the request in the email is suspicious or unusual, it could also be a Phishing email and a telephone call to the sender might be a good precaution before replying.
————————————————–
From: Internal Revenue Service [mailto:service@irs.gov]
Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2009 1:10 AM
Subject: Get Your Tax Refund ( $869 )
Importance: High
After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have
determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $869.
Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 3-9 days in order to
process it.
A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons.
For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline.
To access your tax refund, please click here
Best Regards,
Tax Refund Deparment
Internal Revenue Service
© Copyright 2009, Internal Revenue Service U.S.A. All rights reserved.
FaceBook Users Beware
BBB Warns: Your Facebook Friends Could Actually be Hackers, Scam Artists, and ID Thieves
FaceBook, one of the most popular social networking sites on the Internet, has become the target for several different phishing scams. Here is brief list of some of the scams you should be on the look-out for:
Friend in Distress:
Scam: Facebook users may receive a message in their inbox from a friend claiming to be in a dire situation — such as stranded in a foreign country — and needing money wired to them. The recipient doesn’t realize that their friend’s account has been hacked and that the message was sent by scammers. The Facebook user has no way of recovering the wired money after they learn that their friend is safe and sound.
Site Builder Upgrade and Feature Enhancements
Site Builder is an easy to use on-line design tool that enables anyone to design their own web site quickly and easily. Inland Pacific Consulting has offered Site Builder as an option available with our web site hosting packages for many years. We are pleased to announce the following improvements and additions to Site Builder design tool:
- Analyze traffic with Google Analytics – users can now see how visitors interact using Google Analytics.
- New web site design templates have been added that provide more functionality and a new modern design theme.
- A new Image Replacement Wizard now allows you to automatically apply a range of image effects to any image that you upload and helps you pick the most suitable image effect option for your web site. All you have to do is to upload any image of your choice, choose an area of the image that you like and then pick from the available image effect options generated by the wizard.
- A new and improved Form Wizard helps you create simple or fully customized forms for your web site with an editable “mailto:” email address option as well as a provision for adding descriptive text above and below the form page.
- A series of improvements have been made to allow you to do things like add metatag information, edit page names, and create a site map to improve Search Engine Optimization. Additionally, to make it more search engine friendly, web sites will be published as pure HTML without JavaScript.
- You can now choose to align your web site to the left or the center of the browser window.
- A new Flash Wizard allows you to select from a wide range of flash intro movie templates for your web site. You can customize the color, image, sound, text and the messages that appear as part of the animation.
- A revamped WYSIWYG Rich Text Editor helps you create rich standards compliant HTML content without having to know HTML. You can add text, images, links etc. in a word processor-like mode. The feature rich editor includes a spell check, style sheet (CSS) support, HTML & XHTML editing modes, and more.
- You can now add stand-alone pages to your web site. Stand-alone pages are not listed as part of the regular site navigation links and can be accessed only through a direct link you provided to your site users.